Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

We're only just over two weeks into the new year, and as a podcaster I listen to said the other day, it feels more like a year than a scant fifteen days. The news cycle has been relentless and maddeningly full of gaslighting. I do try to keep this blog as upbeat as possible, so I'll save my rants for Facebook (or my sister), but suffice it to say, we are currently living through a strange and disturbing mix of Idiocracy, 1984, and The Handmaid's Tale. 

Highly relatable comic by Emily McGovern 

Ursula LeGuin wrote that "resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art---the art of words." Outside of voting and calling my representatives, I am but one woman with limited resources and power. But I can write, and even if I'm just writing about history and where model horses fall into that history, I will always do my best to share facts and the sources from which they came. Telling the truth and combating nonsense and conspiracy theories is just as important in our hobby as it is in the bigger world.  

So that said, the universe gave me a pretty solid shove over the holidays to get myself in gear and start devoting real time to all of the model horse history projects I want to do that have been languishing on mental back burners for too long. I already had vague plans of creative and self-improvement New Years resolutions for 2026, but a trip home to see my family a few weeks ago kick-started an exercise regimen and a serious Marie Kondo-style look at everything. A few days into my trip, a plumbing issue necessitated that we reevaluate the multitude of books in my parents' basement to make space for more important things (model horses) while the leak was addressed. My sister and I hauled 60 heavy paper-ream boxes of books out of the basement, sorted them, and donated the vast majority of them to local shelters and charities. We are determined to do the same with more stuff in the parental basement, but maybe at a less knee-wrecking pace. (Stairs + heavy boxes = sore for days.)

The surprise downsizing adventure while visiting my parents has inspired me reinforced my plans to declutter my own living space as well. Part of my reorganization plan involves new shelves (insert angelic choir noises here) where I can not only display more of my collection but also have some space to assess the models I plan to part with. (Do I really need 20 classic Kelso models? Probably not.) I also intend to devote a shelf or two to current custom projects so I can finally wrap up all of my commissions and take a break to paint some models for myself.

Bringing order to the material chaos will definitely help me bring some order to the mental chaos. I have a hard time doing creative things---writing, painting, coding websites, etc---when there is clutter distracting me from what I should be doing. Tidying up customizing bodies, books, reference materials, and knick knacks will be such a huge help. 

Which brings me to the aforementioned metaphysical kick in the pants. I am hoping to make this the year I finally get serious about updating my Model Horse History website. It's very HTML 1.0 at the moment, so that needs some aesthetic modernizing work, but more than anything, I really just want to create an encyclopedic database of model horses reference materials, both hobby published works and company produced ads, publications, etc, for everyone in the hobby to utilize. As I've said before, history should be shared, and I have a ridiculous amount of reference materials I've collected over the years that I need to digitize and upload. 

I'm also slowly working on an Identify Your Hartland site (with the blessings of the late Janice Cox, so that tells you how long I've been needing a cattle prod more encouragement to get a move-on.) I will definitely need to crowd source information and pictures for the site since my own Hartland collection is limited to a few specific interests. 

All of that will keep me quite busy without a doubt, but I also absolutely intend to spend time just doing creative things for my own peace of mind---painting models, messing around with water colors, and picking up long neglected cross stitch projects. Art and creativity are a source of self-care, of joy, and especially of a more zen mental space to combat the fear and despair. 

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

The Chris Hess Papers: History is Meant to be Shared

I apologize that this has taken me much longer to write than I had originally planned, but I wanted to tell Chris Hess' story to the best of my ability. As Breyer's primary sculptor for nearly 40 years, Hess' work shaped and influenced our hobby in a multitude of ways. His story is important because he was so much more than "just" a model horse sculptor---he was also a draftsman, a wood carver, a mold maker, a problem solver, an innovator, and more. Not surprisingly, the research for this post led me down all sorts of interesting sidetracks and rabbit holes that I want to follow, and I will do my best to share all of the neat connections I found as coherently as possible, if not in this post, then in subsequent follow ups. 

The impetus for this tale began last year not long after Erin Corbett and her Volo Artem team purchased Stone Horses (formerly the Peter Stone Company). Peter entrusted Erin as the new keeper of several boxes full of the company's historical paperwork, some of which had once belonged to Breyer and Stone artist Chris Hess. (For those unaware of the history, Peter is the son of Sam Stone who co-founded the Breyer Molding Company in 1943, and Peter worked for and later owned the company until it was bought out by Reeves International in 1984. When Peter eventually left Breyer in 1996 to start his own company, the first piece his new company produced was a Chris Hess sculpture that Breyer had rejected.) 

Pretty much every collector knows that Chris Hess sculpted the majority of Breyer's models from the very beginning of the horse and animal line in 1950 until his death in 1988. In that span of nearly 40 years, Hess sculpted 100 horses for Breyer (74 Traditional, 19 Classics, and 7 Little Bits) as well as 27 animal molds (if I counted correctly). He also sculpted at least two more horses that were rejected by Breyer and later produced by Stone, the rearing horse Trouble and the landing Jumping Horse. While the many Breyer horses he sculpted are probably his greatest legacy, he sculpted a number of other interesting pieces "including the children’s riding toy known as the 'Wonder Horse,' Santa Claus figures, [and] art and advertising pieces. Christian was [also] the sculptor and mold maker responsible for many of those familiar plastic pink yard flamingos." (1) 

There are many, many spring horses called the Wonder Horse,
so I'm not sure which one Hess sculpted, but this is a very
early example from the late 1940s.

Christian Fritz Hess was born in Chicago, IL, on August 6, 1916. While there isn't really any information available about Hess' childhood, we do know he studied at the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago. And this is where the first rabbit hole appeared for me. One of the very first things that grabbed my attention while looking through Hess' papers with Erin was a series of very old pages from the classic animal anatomy book Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler stamped "Property of Elizabeth Haseltine." The name was immediately familiar, but it took me a moment to remember why. Naturally, the sculptor Herbert Haseltine came immediately to mind. He created the magnificent bronze of Man O' War that stands atop that great horse's grave at the Kentucky Horse Park. But then it clicked. Not far from the University of Chicago, my alma mater and employer, is a statue of a sleeping fawn by Elizabeth Haseltine. I pass it regularly while walking or cycling on the lakefront path in nice weather, and I remember being curious a few years ago to find out if she was related to Herbert (as best I can tell, she was not). 

Haseltine's fawn a top the David Wallach Fountain at 
Promontory Point in Hyde Park, Chicago

Elizabeth Haseltine was a remarkable sculptor known for her exquisite animals. The Chicago Tribune's art critic described her work as "delicate, true, simple, and fascinating." (2) Elizabeth studied and later taught at the University of Chicago and worked closely with fellow artist Lorado Taft at his famed Midway Studio on campus. It's a five minute walk from my office, and it's happily still in use as an art space. Elizabeth also then took a teaching position at the Art Institute of Chicago downtown, and I think it's quite probable that Hess was one of her art students. I'm sure she must have given him the pages of the animal anatomy book while he took her classes.

I could write a whole post just about Haseltine and Taft and how their work has been in the background of my everyday life for the last 25 years, but that's probably more navel-gazing than anyone really cares for. Suffice it to say, the work of Haseltine and Taft can be found around the university and in many places elsewhere in the city as well. They are two of the most significant and influential sculptors in Chicago history, so that should give some perspective as to the importance of the artistic tradition that Hess trained up in. 

Hess was not a horse person per se when he began his career with Breyer although he had obviously studied animal anatomy with Haseltine. After leaving the Art Institute, he worked as a commercial artist, a wood carver, and a designer of decorative architectural elements for buildings before serving in the Navy during World War II. When he returned home to Chicago, his talents eventually led him to mold making and a career with the Breyer Molding Company in 1950. (3) Hess sculpted the Breyer Western Horse, their very first model horse, and tooled the mold for it as well. (4) I love this quote from a recent article by Jocelyn Cote that Breyer posted about Chris Hess' work for them:

"Chris had a unique perspective that no other Breyer artist in history has had – not only was he a sculptor, but he was also Breyer’s main tooling engineer. Working alongside two other craftsmen, Paul Olson and Gordon Johnson, they created the injection molds (referred to shorthand as “tools”) from which all Breyer models created on those original sculptures have sprung. The tool that molded your 75th Anniversary Western Horse model, for example, is the very same tool engineered by Chris and his team all those years ago – and that same tool also molded the original palomino #57 models that adorned the Mastercrafters clocks. When you hold any model sculpted by Chris Hess in your hands, you are quite literally touching Breyer history." (5)

That gives me goosebumps. It's so remarkable that the original tooling not only still exists but also still works after 75 years. It's also incredible to me that Hess not only was an excellent sculptor, but he also had the engineering skills to design and tool the molds to cast his work. 

Hess' earliest designs for Breyer were technically copies of pieces produced by other companies---the Western Horse and Pony were derived from the Hartland Victor, and the Boxer was a direct copy molded from the porcelain Boehm Boxer. By the mid-1950s however, Hess began to create sculptures that were entirely his own. One of the earliest of these was Lassie, the beloved TV show Collie. Amongst the papers left with Stone were four promotional photos of the real dog, including this one bearing sculpting notes in Hess' hand.

While the archive of Hess papers held by the Stone company is in no way the entirety of his inspirational source materials, it is full of fascinating gems. He kept examples of work by other prominent equine artists such as Marilyn Newmark and Jeanne Mellin Herrick.

There were also a number of images of lynxes, both photos and sketches by another artist. I would guess they were part of a group of references Hess used for the wildlife series he created independently of Breyer in the 1980s. I'll share a couple of those images here, but I will definitely need to write a whole post about the wildlife series to do it all justice.

The most interesting papers are of course the ones related to Breyer designs. The majority of the pages are photos that Hess worked from to create his sculptures. As you'll see, he had an incredible gift for translating a 2D image into a highly accurate 3D sculpture. One of the earliest photos in the collection is this handsome Morgan horse. While Hess' Stretch Morgan mold wasn't an exact replica, this photo certainly influenced the pose and possibly the markings. 

The next image was that of a black Angus bull. He should look familiar. I love all of the sculpting notations. 

There are a number of reference pages for the real Andalusian horses Hess used as references for Legionario III and the Classic Andalusian Family. (I will probably break this out into another post about the Garrison Ranch and their horses eventually.) Once again, Hess' notes on these pages absolutely give me goosebumps. 

The reference for Legionario's pose

The source for the Classic Andalusian Mare---the pose and the 
flow of the mane and tail were captured pretty perfectly by Hess

An article about Galiceño ponies includes a photo that likely inspired Hess' pony. 

This quadruple exposed photo shows US Equestrian Team and dressage champion Keen performing the half-pass. While Hess ultimately sculpted Keen in a cantering pose, it's fun to see his references all the same. 

There were also two similar photos of the great pacer Dan Patch. Breyer ultimately released him on the Pacer mold in 1990, but I can't help but wonder if a standing model was considered, possibly before Adios was released. 

The archive also contained a photo of Phar Lap torn from a 1984 issue of the Blood-Horse as well as a movie still from the 1983 movie about the champion racehorse. Hess' sculpture of the Red Terror was sculpted in a different phase of the gallop so it could stand, and it was released in 1985. While he had already engineered two smaller models, the classic scale Hobo and Polo Pony, to balance on one leg in a base, both were prone to warping, and duplicating the pose in the famous photo below was not something Breyer would be able to tackle successfully for another 20 years.

According to Peter Stone, Hess worked primarily from photos (and sometimes illustrations), and he rarely visited his subjects in person. So I was really excited to find a few of his sketches amongst the photos. There were several of wood barns that collectors will recognize as releases from the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

But the real gem was this sketch of Stud Spider, actor James Brolin's champion racing Appaloosa. It's always fascinating to me to see another artist's process, so Hess' notes about corrections for his in process sculpture are fascinating.

Hess may not have been a horseman when he started working for Breyer, but he certainly developed an eye for equine anatomy and the distinctions between breeds from Shetland Ponies to Belgians to Thoroughbreds and everything in between. In the years since his death, more horse-oriented artists have taken up the reins and have sculpted more anatomically correct models for the Breyer line, but there is no denying the timeless appeal of Hess' work. Models like Lady Phase, the Clydesdale Mare, Adios, the walking Shire, and the Cantering Welsh Pony remain fan favorites even though they're all around 50 years old now. I personally love the classic scale Black Stallion Returns set and the all of the Little Bits molds. They were some of my childhood favorites, and I still have a huge soft spot for them.

There are more interesting papers from the years after Chris passed that tell some of Peter Stone's story, some early BreyerFest tidbits, and his new venture at the helm of Stone Horses. I'll share those in a subsequent post since this one is already quite long. 

I also plan to start revamping my Model Horse History site in the next few weeks so I can start uploading the many model horse references I've collected over the years, including these from Chris Hess' collection (and more). I strongly feel that our collective hobby knowledge and resources should be shared freely. Making them available to all hobbyists is the best way we can learn and preserve our hobby's history.

As always, thanks for reading!


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1) Quoted from a transcription of a flier given out to attendees of the first Peter Stone company breakfast held during BreyerFest 1997, https://breyerhistorydiva.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-chris-hess-flier.html

2) https://www.hydeparkhistory.org/blog/hyde-park-stories-david-wallach-fountain

(3) Young, Nancy Atkinson. Breyer Molds and Models: Horses, Riders, and Animals 1950-1997. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1999), pg. 334.

4) https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/collecting/chris-hess-the-soul-of-breyer-animal-creations?srsltid=AfmBOop3umhPuns8ApwBpMuVnjCHNePvoI4A2MArstBeWaDFZs2ATaF5

5) Ibid

A Window in Time: The 1948 Dodge Incorporated catalog

A little over a year ago while looking for various things on eBay, I stumbled across a remarkably well-preserved piece of model horse history, and in my inimitable slow fashion, I am finally making time to write about it. Regular readers of this blog will recall my surmise that the plastic Hartland Victor and Breyer Western Horse clocks made for the Mastercrafters Clock and Radio Company were very likely inspired by a metal horse standing over a clock produced by Dodge, Incorporated, a company that specialized in trophies, cutlery, metal serving dishes, figurines, and more. The horse was sculpted by noted artist Gladys Brown Edwards in 1947, and Dodge produced them in various sizes, with and without clocks and bases.

A Dodge, Inc, clock, circa late 1940s (photo from eBay)

I intend to write a post about Gladys herself in the near future, but the story of Dodge, Inc, needs to be told first. It's really rather fascinating in my opinion---I confess I'm always a little amused when our weird niche hobby has ties to the wider world, especially to fame and celebrity, and this is definitely one of those stories. Dodge, Inc, was founded by Ray Edgar Dodge, a native of Woodburn, OR, in the Willamette Valley just south of Portland. Born in 1900, Dodge was the son of a successful department store owner, but he didn't immediately follow in his father's entrepreneurial footsteps. In college, Dodge joined the track team and was so talented as a middle-distance runner that he not only participated in the 1924 Paris Olympics, but he also spent the next few years winning championships on an international stage. [1]

He returned to the United States in 1927 and went into business for himself with his Olympic teammates as his primary stockholders. He opened stores in Chicago and Los Angeles selling high quality class rings, medals, and trophies. By 1935, his booming business expanded to New York and began to include items like flatware and figurines. During World War II, like so many other American businesses, his company switched gears to produce metal goods for the war effort.

While Dodge did manufacture affordable trophies that could be ordered by groups like horse show associations and the like, the company is most famous for producing the Oscar trophies for the Academy Awards as well as those for the Emmy Awards, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. [2] It's pretty cool to think that these famous statuettes may have rubbed shoulders with GBE's parade horses at one time.

Oscar trophies (photo via CNN)

My eBay find of course was not an Oscar statuette nor even a Dodge horse clock, but it's something even better in my opinion. I stumbled across a perfectly preserved copy of the 1948 Dodge, Inc, catalog complete with a price list and additional product inserts. Paper ephemera from the 1940s and 1950s related---even tangentially---to the model horse hobby, is so rare. I'm sure most of it was produced with no thought of it being preserved for even a few years, let alone nearly 80 years. I feel incredibly lucky to be the current caretaker for this amazing piece of history, and I'm thrilled to be able to post about it here.

History is meant to be shared, so I will eventually get all of the pages of this catalog uploaded to my Model Horse History website. In the meantime though, I thought these pages were particularly interesting to model horse collectors.

The catalog opens with a nice piece about Gladys Brown Edwards and her sculptures for Dodge, beginning with the horses.

It also features some of her other animal sculptures, like dogs and wildlife.

When I bought the catalog, I had no idea what was inside other than a couple of random page views included in the auction listing. I gasped out loud when I found this gorgeous double page spread showing the Western parade horse in all of the various sizes and iterations.

I love having the original advertising for pieces in my collection. If I ever haul these heavy guys to a live show, I'll have the perfect provenance to display with them.

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into the past as much as I have! I'm finally through the busiest part of the current academic year work-wise, so I should have more time for blogging again going forward. Next up will be more on the Chris Hess papers held in the Stone Horse company archives. That story also has some fun ties outside the world of model horses, and I'm looking forward to telling it soon!

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Works Cited:


1) https://www.dodgefamily.org/Genealogy/RayEdgarDodge.ht%23

2) https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-31-me-18962-story.html